About Us
The highly successful Urban Youth Racing School (UYRS) was established in Philadelphia in 1998 by sports marketing expert Anthony Martin. Anthony Martin’s passion for motorsports led him to forming UYRS to help expose students to the many career opportunities within this billion dollar industry that students of color had no access to. Martin partnered with NASCAR Team Owner and now retired McDonald’s CEO Ed Rensi to bring this vision to life.
With a 22- year track record of success and having served over 7500 students, as well as national recognition, UYRS looks forward to reversing the plight of urban youth in this country by creating opportunities, igniting careers and transforming lives using motorsports.
To make this happen UYRS Partners and collaborates with the automotive like General Motors and Motorsports sanctioning bodies like NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA to create opportunities and expose students to the extremely lucrative jobs such as an engineer and pit crew where an individual can make upwards of 80k for changing tires.
Mission
The mission of UYSA Center of Excellence is to provide urban youth with exposure to an educational initiative that will engage them in STEM in a more holistic way by teaching them how to think critically and independently through preparing them to embrace the depths of all academic subjects for obtaining the skills necessary for successful STEM careers.
Moving forward UYRS has plans to open a multifaceted campus that will feature Philadelphia’s first gokart track and campus to introduce students to STEM and beyond. UYRS will also incorporate virtual & augmented reality as an extension to our curriculums to provide students and teachers around the globe with a new interactive way to learn.
- Support the development of student interest in STEM through experiential learning at its sites
- Introduce minority students to STEM that pipelines them into college programs for STEM degrees
- Support and increase K-12 improvements in urban centers for science and mathematics through industry partnerships
- Provide support services to local school students for science and mathematics instruction
- Be a Center of Excellence for STEM education
UYRS BOARD MEMBERS
Anthony Martin Sr.
Founder / Executive Director
Urban Youth, Inc.
UYRS Board Member
Jim Farmer
Chairman, UYRS
Pres.James E. Farmer
Consultant Inc.
UYRS Board Member
Melissa Heller
President,
Commonwealth Strategies, Inc.
UYRS Board Member
John Cohen
Owner, NASCAR Team
NY Racing
UYRS Board Member
Hill Harper
Actor, Activist, Author
UYRS Board Member
Cameron French
SVP, Public Affairs – SKDK
UYRS Board Member